The Children
by The Kraken
Summary: Several years after the wars of AC 195 and 196, Relena decides to take a trip to the L1 Colony Cluster. But all is not as peaceful as it should be... (Rated PG13 for occasional graphic violence.)


The Children - by The Kraken

Disclaimers: Gundam Wing _should_ be mine, but it isn't. Until Sunrise comes to their senses and signs over all GW rights to me, it's actually theirs.

Warnings: Occasionally graphic violence. Some mild obscenities. Some very sappy bits. A couple of long, rambling bits. Let me know if the rambling bits are too hard to follow.

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**The Children**

  


Chang Wufei scowled in annoyance at his predicament. _Watch over Miss Relena._ All very well for them to say, but how was he supposed to do it? The awkward child (The fact that she was a couple of months older than him did not shake his belief that she was a child and he was an adult.) refused to let anyone "baby-sit" her, even if all Wufei wanted to do was be the most circumspect bodyguard in the world. Adding to his annoyance was the fact that he had been sent on this mission by a scheming pair of women, who both knew full well how difficult his task would be. _Po and Une, a lot. Chang, very little._ read the scoreboard so far. He chuckled to himself. At least he had taken all the hair products with him, the expression on Sally's face when she found out would be priceless.

He put aside those thoughts as he noticed his destination approaching. Trowa's circus had become quite successful, and was now requested to do performances all around the Earth Sphere Unified Nation. Thanks to an immense coincidence, their next performance was going to be at one of the colonies in the L1 cluster, the exact same one that Vice Foreign Minister Dorilan was going to host a conference on the benefits of the current peace. Going as a member of Trowa's circus would be the perfect cover to sneak onto the colony, and from there he could watch over her very discreetly.

He was greeted first by the small troop of orphans that the circus had adopted, who pestered him on what he was doing here. Snarling at them and baring his katana just made them laugh. After all, 'Uncle' Trowa trained them to work with the lions, who were a lot more intimidating when they growled than Wufei was, and 'Auntie' Cathy threw knives at them, so bladed weapons didn't scare them. Just when he thought that things couldn't get worse, someone jovially slapped him on the back hard enough to make him stumble and spoke in an annoyingly loud cheerful voice:

"Wufie! Long time no see! How ya' been?"

Wufei nearly swore at his own stupidity. Trowa's circus was currently in the L2 cluster. Duo's scraps and salvage business operated out of the L2 cluster. Naturally the two old comrades would get together. Putting on a prize-winning glare (He had got a lot of practice using it on his "bosses" back on Earth.), he replied:

"Duo, I see that you haven't managed to get yourself killed yet fooling around with rusting heaps of junk! Maybe you thought that you could convince one of Trowa's lions to do the job quicker!" Duo looked suitably mortified, and Wufei continued by grinning ear to ear, "Actually, I'm doing pretty well, being a Preventer has its perks."

Duo laughed.

"Yeah, like the company!" At that, Wufei's glare returned and fixed itself firmly on Duo.

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

Duo leered back at him.

"Like the beautiful Major Sally Po? Does she still make you sleep on the couch when when you've been naughty?

"At least she lets me into the house. I heard a rumour that Hilde kicked you out of the house because of something you said about her mother!" 

Duo grinned weakly, and glanced sideways at the giggling kids.

"Erm... There's no reason to get into rumour mongering. I just remembered that I've got to get my rascals back by five, otherwise Hilde will..." Duo's mouth snapped shut for a minute, and his face turned red while he glared at everyone before barking back at the assembled children, "All right, my lot get over to the van! It's about time we got moving!"

He stalked off, followed by a dozen kids. Trowa led Wufei to his caravan, and poured some tea from the already warmed kettle. He then smiled at Wufei.

"So, why are you here? Don't tell me you actually took a vacation!"

"I should've. I was ordered to watch over Relena during her L1 conference, and you know what she thinks about bodyguards." Trowa nodded. "Anyway, I figured that since you're going there I could sneak along with your circus and monitor her from there."

The corner of Trowa's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly and the faintest hint of an evil glint shone in his eye.

"Can you do tricks?"

Wufei gagged and nearly spat out his tea.

"WHAT!"

"I said, can you do tricks? Like with your katana. If you want to travel with us you have to earn your keep. We don't make money by letting freeloaders have what they want."

Wufei fumed to himself. Injustice had been piled upon injustice! First those insufferable women, and now Trowa and Duo! If he ever got his hands upon whatever malignant deity was causing this he swore that he would wring its neck.

********************************************************************************** 

_Sunday_

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A SUV pulled out of the long driveway and sped off down the road as the automated gates swung shut quietly behind it. Country-style real estate was expensive in the colonies, especially in the L1 Cluster, but the employer of the men inside the SUV was very, very wealthy.

The closest term that would describe the four men inside was "hitmen". This term was entirely accurate. As they quickly and efficiently loaded their guns and checked their other equipment, the man in the front passenger seat spoke up.

"Alright boys, it seems that Van Lewen construction thinks that they can threaten our associates, so it's up to us to give an object lesson. Understood?"

A chorus of grunts replied, and the man settled back and relaxed. He was staring idly at the road ahead when his eyes caught a metallic sparkle all across the road.

"STOP THE CAR!!!" he screamed at the driver, but he was too late.

The SUV went over the caltrops and blew all its tires. As the driver lost control it slid from the road and down a hill. When the crazy ride had finished and the SUV stopped partway down the hill the man looked quickly back up to the top of the hill and confirmed his fears. Three men standing at the top of the hill raised their SMG's and started to fire on them, but the bulletproof siding and windows deflected the bullets. His men knew what to do, and opened the doors on the side away from the ambushers, planning to use the car as cover while they returned fire. It was a fatal mistake. The last thing that the SUV's occupants saw was a spiky-haired man step out from behind a tree and fire a grenade launcher.

At them.

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The spiky haired man stepped back onto the road. He didn't look very old, probably eighteen years old, twenty at the most. His three companions looked even younger, probably about fifteen. He looked expectantly at the tallest of them, who grumbled and handed over a $10 bill, saying:

"Okay, but how did you know that they would go down that side."

The other boy smiled ever so slightly, the self satisfied grin of the vindicated.

"Because that's what my instincts told me."

And with that, the four boys headed for their own SUV. Behind them, the burnt-out shell of their enemies' vehicle, and the four charred skeletons inside it, were consigned to oblivion.

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Trowa smiled. Wufei was doing a good job of inadvertently teaching the kids how to swear. It had been Cathy's idea to add Wufei to the end of their regular knife-throwing routine, and Wufei had done an excellent job of deflecting each and every single knife thrown at him, especially the three that had been aimed for his groin. Of course, the best part was when Wufei did a sword juggling act that would have impressed even the pros. Three broadswords, two katanas, a rapier, and a longsword had been flying through the air at one point, and the crowd was ecstatic when he "accidentally" dropped them. The blades landed vertically, side by side, and then Wufei jumped lightly up so that his feet were each on a broadsword's base, and he made a bow.

Of course, his great performance didn't prevent him from grumbling about the injustice of having a weak woman throwing knives at him. But that was alright, since the woman in question made them tea after the show. However, this is when another downside of his performance turned up. He had made quite the fan club with the kids.

"That was cool!"

"Yeah, I wanna do that!"

"C'mon Woof, teach us how to do that!"

"Yeah! Teach us! Teach us!"

Wufei glared at them suspiciously.

"Isn't it your bedtime? I think that you've all had enough excitement for one night." As the chorus of complaints rose, Wufei continued. "But maybe tomorrow morning I'll see who had enough tonight to be able start training.

That one hit the right button, and the only noise from then on was the sound of kids stampeding towards their beds. When he judged them to all be in bed, Wufei asked Trowa,

"Isn't this the colony that Doctor J had his base on?"

Trowa nodded. Wufei continued,

"Whatever happened to Heero? I don't think any one of us has heard a word from him since that last battle. Have you heard anything about him?"

"No, and none of Dr. J's former henchmen have been able to tell me anything about him either."

"Figures."

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_Monday_

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Several well-dressed people stepped out of the shuttle terminal and were immediately assaulted by a barrage of shouted questions, flashing camera light bulbs, and reaching arms thrusting microphones and tape recorders in their direction. Fortunately, the police were there and managed to contain the near-rioting reporters. As the important people stepped into their waiting cars, the police tried to clear a path for them to drive away. Inside one of the cars, a young lady dressed in a white suit looked with disgust upon the crowd of journalists. Her companions, another young lady with a small briefcase across her lap and two middle-aged men who looked as if they had just stepped out of Earth's best tailor shop, sympathized with her. Wherever she went, the media was always trouble. One of the men spoke up. 

"Tell me Amy, how does the bunch rate?"

The young lady with the briefcase smiled and looked critically at the rabble being rapidly left behind.

"Well... I'd give today's crowd about an eight on the disgustingly pathetic scale, with a forecast of about a nine at the conference tomorrow."

"Really? I would have thought that they deserved at least a nine today."

"Nah, remember the '97 ESUN Assembly?" All the car's occupants shuddered involuntarily. "THAT was a ten."

"Hey, Miss Dorilan, why don't you just get a couple of bodyguards?"

The woman in white turned and glared so strongly at the man that he felt as if his face were about to crumple under her intense gaze.

"You KNOW what I think about bodyguards."

As Relena turned her attention back to the streets outside, the other three occupants of the car shrugged helplessly at one another. Then Relena asked,

"Tell me, is there anything important I should know that's been going on around here. I'd hate to be surprised by something at the conference."

Amy slipped a few papers out of her briefcase and consulted them briefly.

"Well, it appears that business is booming, especially the construction and electronics sectors." Amy glanced at another set of sheets. "The crime rate in general is dropping, but it appears that there is a lot of organized crime-related violence going on, and a lot of gang or Mafia members have been killed. It also seems that some of the groups have access to military-grade weaponry and aren't hesitating to use it."

Relena sighed wistfully. No more nations at war did not mean that groups of people wouldn't try to kill each other over other pointless things. Not all was well in the wonderland of the total pacifism era.

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Wufei was deciding how he could best sneak into the conference, seeing as how he had no official status here on L1, and announcing himself would probably result in Relena having him shipped back to Earth and the not-so-tender ministrations of Lady Une and Sally Po. Trowa suggested that they take a walk downtown and see what they could find out. So early next morning, they snuck out of the circus compound and headed for town.

Wufei found himself feeling somewhat disappointed in the city. It looked exactly like your average Earth city, complete with skyscrapers, apartment blocks, and all the other architechtually bland things that he had to deal with everyday on Earth. When he voiced his feelings, Trowa agreed.

"It's the cheapest and most efficient way to build things. All of the rich people have villas out in the plains areas."

Wufei was about to comment on the social injustice when he felt the lightest of touches in his pocket and instinctively slashed with his hand at the intruder. The cry was higher-pitched and lower down than he had expected though, and when he turned he saw a small boy, maybe ten years old, clutching his arm to his chest. Wufei's eyes narrowed on the would-be pickpocket and he was about to advance on him when Trowa's outstretched arm stopped him. Trowa addressed the little kid sternly, saying: 

"You should know better. Now leave us alone and get out of here, both of you."

The kid looked at Trowa for a minute, then at a girl off to Wufei's left, and then the kid and the girl fled. Wufei looked quizzically at Trowa.

"Many of the street kids here have formed their own gang, and are looking out for themselves now instead of letting adults take advantage of them."

Wufei nodded. If there was one thing that the Gundam pilots had shown, it was that kids could be as good or better than adults. Trowa stopped them in front of a small tool shop.

"We're here." he said simply.

As they entered the shop, they failed to notice a that young man with black spiky hair sitting on a nearby park bench had been observing them the whole time.

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"Thank you all very much for coming here today. As you all probably know, this conference has been set up so that we can congratulate ourselves on our achievements and find those problems that need addressing. To start allow me to..."

Her speech felt like it was three times longer than she had prepared, so Relena was glad when she could finally sit down and let others do the talking. These conferences were really just a method of public self-congratulation, so there was no way that the media could be excluded. However, all of the real problem-finding and -fixing would happen at the select lunches and dinners during the week. Times when the rich and powerful would get together and plot amongst themselves, just like in the good old days. Relena found that probably the only time that she wouldn't feel like gagging during the whole week would be when she slept. At least she didn't have to put up with Wufei or anyone else hovering over her, trying to protect her.

Lunch was as she had expected it, and she sat at a table with a couple of leading representatives from the Cluster's colonies, a few rich businessmen, and a gentleman who introduced himself as Mr. Antoniolli. The discussion was quite light, with the only interesting part being when the topic of crime was brought up.

"Yes, our crime rate has fallen dramatically in the last couple of years." one of the politicians was saying.

"Hah! That's just because the gangs are too busy killing each other. They can't be bothered to deal with the general public right now." interjected one of the businessmen.

"Not exactly true," said Mr. Antoniolli calmly, "Yesterday several of my employees were ambushed and killed. The gangs aren't content with merely fighting for position of top dog, some of them want to expand their influence."

Everyone at the table looked a little unnerved by that comment, which surprised Relena. Come to think of it, everyone had said what their profession was except for him.

"Well, yes, it has been getting a little messy." another one of the businessmen said rather timidly.

"You know what it was?" continued Mr. Antoniolli. "It was that terrorist Seraph who started it all. Brutal fellow, no doubt about it. Gathers a bunch of neglected street children together, gives them guns, and declares war on everyone and everything else. It's thanks to him that this whole underworld war is going on."

"Did you say children?" Relena was curious. "As in late teens?"

"Some," the man smiled ruefully, "but for the most part, I think that they average around thirteen years old."

"But don't most gangs use children?"

"Oh yes, but almost always as gophers or errand boys. The kids will set up meetings, run messages, maybe even sell a few drugs at their school. But no gang leader has ever been crazy enough to use them throughout his operation. Until now, that is."

"And you say that this Seraph does?"

"Almost exclusively. There's documented proof of his youths wiping out rival gangers. Not only that, but he gives them weapons that I wouldn't trust cops with. Grenade launchers, flamethrowers, plastic explosives, you get the point."

Relena felt very lightheaded. She personally believed that all weapons should be destroyed, and now some guy was handing them out to kids? She agreed with Mr. Antoniolli, whoever this Seraph guy was, he was crazy.

********************************************************************************** 

Wufei recognized the man behind the counter as soon as he stepped into the shop. Apparently, the man recognized him too.

"Hey kid! Haven't seen you for a couple of years!"

Trowa looked at them with a raised eyebrow.

"After I first got to earth," Wufei explained. "I took the precaution of buying extra ammo and explosives so that I wouldn't run out." Trowa's eyes darted to the floor sheepishly. "This is the guy I bought them from."

"Yeah, well, those were the days. Nowadays you need fifteen different licenses in order to sell explosives to construction workers. Anyway, what do you want now?"

"Murph here is the local fixer. If you want information, or something... specialized, then Murph's the man." Trowa explained to Wufei. "What's the word on the street, Murph?" 

"Well... You know about the Vice Foreign Minister's visit?" They nodded. "It turns out that the Mafia families aren't very happy with her. Since she came to power, inter-colony trade has become so cheap and easy that it isn't worth it to smuggle things anymore. Plus, her anti-weapon policies put a lot of their... stockpiles... in danger."

"Big surprise." muttered Wufei. She NEEDED a bodyguard, dammit!

"Oh, and the Seraph pretty much rules the streets now. All the other gangs are treading very carefully, 'cause about three gangs got completely wiped out in the last four months."

Trowa whistled, that was pretty severe. Murph grinned.

"Yeah it's gotten so you can't even trust the little snitches anymore. Half of them work for him, and the other half know someone who does."

Trowa looked outside, then at his watch.

"I gotta get back to the circus. See you two around." he said as he walked out the door.

"So what does the Seraph think about the Vice Foreign Minister?" Wufei asked.

"That's the six thousand dollar question. Nobody really knows. The Seraph has some pretty crazy military hardware, although where he got it from not even I know, so he should stand to lose from her anti-weapon stance. But on the other hand, he's helped a lot of people get their businesses started by hooking them up with people from other colony clusters."

"What does he get in return? The usual tribute?"

"Nah, the Seraph's kinda weird. The businesses have to accept a bunch of his kids as paid employees. They get treated as regular employees, although they're paid a little less than adults, and can even be fired if they are too hard to handle.

"What's the point of that?"

"It keeps them off the streets. Apparently the Seraph has a real thing about kids being forced to live on the street.

"Can you give me the names of one of these businesses?"

Murph fidgeted with a pen for a minute, then said:

"Sure, but two things first. One, it's gonna cost ya. Two, don't tell him I told you. Deal?"

********************************************************************************** 

The spiky-haired man watched Trowa approach him and sit down on the bench next to him. After a minute Trowa spoke.

"How long have you been watching us?"

"Most of the morning."

"Did you set those kids up?"

"Yeah, I didn't think that he'd catch them though. By the way, why is he here?"

"He's trying to sneak into the conference so he can protect Relena."

"Hmmm." 

"Oh, did you want this?" Trowa produced a Preventers I.D. card with Wufei's scowling face on it. The man nodded and took the card. 

"You sometimes amaze even me."

"Thanks you."

And with that they went their separate ways.

********************************************************************************** 

The plan was simple, wait for the girl to walk out of the conference, and shoot her before she got to the car. Security was nonexistent, everyone knew that she hated bodyguards, and the police were only there to keep back the crowds.

He watched through his scope as she walked out, flanked by her advisors and her secretary. He nearly laughed, this was without a doubt the easiest job he had ever done.

He was therefore quite surprised at the sudden touch of a cold metallic object to the base of his skull. The surprise still hadn't worn off when the owner of that gun shot him a moment later.

********************************************************************************** 

Wufei sauntered into the construction site and up to the caravan marked "Manager" on its side. He knocked politely and then entered. The manager looked up irritably from a stack of paperwork at the unexpected intrusion.

"Mr. Ivan Van Lewen? I'm Captain Chang Wufei, Preventers. I just wanted to ask you a few informal questions, and then I'll be out of your hair.

The man looked anything but happy, but offered Wufei a chair anyway.

"What do you want to know? And can we make this quick? Some of us have better things to do than barge into people's offices and disturb them."

"Oh, don't worry, this won't take long." Wufei tried the disarmingly friendly smile, the one that Sally always managed to pull off and he didn't. Here was no exception, the man was as convinced of Wufei's friendliness as he would have been by a rabid pit bull trying to smile. Sighing, Wufei started. "What is the extent of your relationship with someone called the Seraph?"

"We're lovers." Van Lewen answered.

"WHAT?" Wufei gagged, then scowled when he realized the other man was laughing at him. "Oh, very funny. Ha, ha, ha."

"Don't just barge in and expect everyone to be friendly. Anyway, the Seraph is just a fixer. He gave me some cash to start up with, and got me a few cheap contracts for materials, and then asked me to employ a bunch of kids. Actually, the kids are really great workers, they haven't had time for the cynicism of adulthood to develop."

"Right. What kind of materials contracts?"

"Well, I get my metal from L2, there's this one guy there who salvages useless scrap metal from the old war machines and melts in down into industrial sheets and beams."

The ugly feeling of foreboding stole its way into Wufei's stomach.

"What's this guy's name?"

"Maxwell. Why?"

"Duo Maxwell? Long hair, talks like there's no tomorrow?"

"Yeah, that's definitely him. Why?" 

"Oh, I know him. I didn't think that he would be involved in the underworld though."

Van Lewen looked directly into Wufei's eyes.

"Look, copper, the Seraph's not some underworld kingpin, or whatever you have him made out to be, he a man who's trying his best to help people. Some of what his people do is pretty nasty, but it's all for a good cause. Killing gangsters who sell drugs to kids in elementary schools isn't exactly evil, and that sort of stuff is only done by a small group of his people. Most of his energy is devoted to making sure that there's a place in this world for the children."

********************************************************************************** 

Relena was exhausted. Since the gunshot had rung out as she stepped out the conference building, she had had to fend off concerned police, prying journalists, and defiant assistants. It had taken over an hour to convince the police that she didn't need 24-hour protection, and that all they had to was make sure the media stayed away from her hotel. Amy, Brad, and Ryan had only stopped their demands that she stay somewhere else tonight when she had agreed to switch rooms with Amy. She sat down on Amy's bed, hers for tonight, and turned on the TV. She was not surprised to see the event played on all the news channels, although she was surprised when she found out exactly what had happened.

"It seems that a sniper who was waiting to kill Vice Foreign Minister Dorilan at the L1 Cluster Summit today was himself killed today just moments before he could carry out the assassination attempt. Police aren't releasing any details at this point, but sources say the man was shot, execution-style, in the back of the head at point blank range. And now over to Jim Mackleson for more details..."

Relena switched off the TV and lay back on the bed, too tired to think about what this could mean. She was just too tired of all the dirty side of human nature that she came into contact with. Just... plain... tired...

Within moments she was asleep, her chest moving up and down in a regular breathing pattern. The man on the balcony smiled as he inserted a lockpick into the the glass door's lock. It clicked open and he slipped stealthily into the room, pulling out a screwdriver and a smoke detector as he went along. He reached the door and screwed the thing in place above the door frame, smiling at the thought of what house keeping would discover in that and in its double in the other room when they investigated why there were two smoke detectors in each room. An audio eavesdropper and a stun grenade were the real contents of his detectors. As he passed by her on his way out, he paused, then ever so gently picked up the blanket from where she had left it crumpled on the floor and drew it over her, leaving just her head poking out. He conscientiously locked the porch door on his way out, then lowered himself down to the ground on his automated grapple.

His people were waiting for him at the bottom, one of them with the listening apparatus that let her hear what was going on in the rooms above. At his signal, they started to patrol the grounds. It was ironic that her refusal to be specially protected had actually made it much easier for him to do so. It would have been terribly inconvenient to have the police poking around the grounds at the same time as his own people.

********************************************************************************** 

Wufei was at this point ready to kill everyone who he thought responsible for his humiliating position at the circus. This currently included Lady Une, Sally, Trowa, Cathy, those little brats that hung around Trowa, Trowa's lions, the Manager (He had insisted that Wufei dress "appropriately" for a circus performer.), and Relena too because she wouldn't just let him come along in the first place. It was nearly midnight when he got back to his trailer (The circus was _nice_ enough to let him have one of the old, unused ones). He dropped his katana on the table, right on top of the papers and ID Cards, and went to wash his face. He was partway through doing just that when it occurred to him that something was wrong. Quickly drying his face, he looked back at the table. Sure enough, there was a photo I.D. pass saying that Chang Wei, an economic consultant, was allowed first class access to the conference. The photo was identical to the one on his Preventers' I.D., which was also sitting in the middle of the papers. Growling, Wufei whipped out his wallet and stared accusingly at the blank space where the I.D. should have been.

Someone was playing games with him, and Wufei was going to find out who. And then he would meet out some serious J-U-S-T-I-C-E. Starting tomorrow morning, he thought, as his body's demands for rest overtook him and he crumpled onto the small bed.

********************************************************************************** 

_Tuesday_

********************************************************************************** 

Duo woke up to the chirping noise of his vidphone. He was about hit the pickup button when he realized that the video input was positioned so that the entire bed could be seen. So he reached over quickly and yanked out the connector cable. He then hit the pickup button. His surprise when Wufei's face appeared on the screen was probably equaled by Wufei's surprise at seeing a bare-chested Duo and an equally bare, but significantly more endowed, chested Hilde behind him. Duo quickly yanked out the other connector and put the first one back in.

"-xwell! Have you no sense of dignity? I am-" Duo pulled the plug back out, counted to ten, and re-inserted it. "-to say for yourself?"

"I pulled out the wrong wire."

"No kidding. Why aren't you up and busy yet?"

"Maybe 'cause it's too early in the morning for any sane person to be up! What about that, huh? Did you think about that, eh? Well? We-"

"SHUT UP! Duo, have you looked at your clock?" Duo peeked over quickly. It read 9:38. "I'd like to know what time you think IS a sane time to get up!"

"Okay, okay, can I call you back? It's just that I want to get some clothes on first."

"Five minutes Duo, five minutes."

********************************************************************************** 

Relena opened her eyes slowly, then jumped awake when she realized that she had fallen asleep in her clothes. Her suit and pants were creased to high heaven, and she would probably have to wear her blue dress until she could get them dry cleaned. Oh well, at least she had had the sense to pull the blanket over herself before she fell asleep. Hold on, that didn't seem right. Relena shook her head to clear away the dregs of exhaustion, last night had been a blur. A knocking on the door brought her attention. She opened it to find a bell-boy standing there with a thick parcel in his hand.

"This came for you this morning, Miss Dorilan. Don't worry, it's been checked."

Relena took the package wordlessly, and was about to thank the bell-boy but he was already half-way down the corridor. She closed the door and opened the package on her bed. It was a light blue business suit, of the style that Relena loved, and it was tailored perfectly for her! She looked it over for a note or a letter of explanation, but there was nothing. Deciding to let the matter lie, she quickly changed suits and left the wrinkled white one on the bed. She had just finished changing when someone knocked on the door again. She opened it and found her cheerful secretary standing there, ready to get on with the day's business.

"Oh, Relena, so you are up! I wasn't sure, so I let you sleep in for a while." Amy was very talkative whenever it was just her and Relena, and she was making no exceptions this morning. "Hey, that's a great-looking suit! I didn't even know you had it! Come on, let's go have breakfast!"

Down in the lobby, Relena saw the hotel manager and decided to ask him about the package.

"Excuse me, but can you tell me when the package for me was delivered?"

"Package?" The manager looked very confused. "No packages were delivered to the hotel for you, and even if they had, we would have sent them to the cops first, for... safety reasons."

"But I thought that you sent a bell-boy to my room this morning with..."

Relena stopped. The bell-boy hadn't gone to her room. He had gone to AMY's room, where Relena was staying. No one but her assistants knew about the room switch, not even the hotel staff.

"I can assure you, Miss Dorilan, that none of our bell-boys has even left the first floor this morning, let alone been on your floor."

Relena thanked the manager and moved off towards the hotel's restaurant, her mind spinning. Now that she thought about it, how had the mysterious donator of the suit known her exact dimensions? The suit fit her perfectly, there was no possible way that that could have been coincidental. This was all way too creepy. Maybe after breakfast it would make more sense.

********************************************************************************** 

The boy had finished changing back into his normal clothes and had dumped the hotel uniform back in the laundry room where he had found it before Relena had even finished admiring her present. He sauntered out into the parking lot and over to the pair of black SUVs that stood near the exit. A few young men were leaning on the sides of the vehicles in a casual manner. The boy walked up to the spiky-haired boy and said in a tone as clinically detached as he do:

"Mission Accomplished."

The other boy nodded, then stood up straight. He looked at the seven other teens, then spoke.

"Firstly, I want to congratulate you all on a job well done. The Vice Foreign Minister should be safe for a little while, so that brings me to item number two. It seems that the Orky Boyz have decided that they're tough enough to try selling drugs at some of the downtown elementary schools. Our orders are to disabuse them of their delusions. Jacqui, Mike, Tom, you're coming with me to Yuy Elementary. The rest of you are to proceed to Everton Primary." He paused for a minute, letting them digest their tasks. "Well?"

"Mission accepted." they chorused back at him. And with that they got into their vehicles and drove out of the parking lot and into the city.

********************************************************************************** 

Duo dialed the number that Wufei had left, actually dressed this time, and from the kitchen so that he didn't disturb Hilde any further. After a couple of rings Wufei's face appeared on the screen.

"Hey Wufei! You mind telling me what you want so I can go out and get on with my day?"

"You're not the only one with work to do. Tell me, does the name Van Lewen mean anything to you?"

"Uhhh, yeah. He's one of my clients in the L1 cluster. Buys a lot of the melted down scrap that I sell. Been with me ever since the start."

"Well, how did you guys get set up?"

"Look, this had better be for Preventers' business..." Wufei nodded, so Duo continued. "Well, I think that his company portfolio was one of a stack that a friend who was just passing through town handed to me. I think that they were all new companies in the L1 cluster that needed things that I could supply, and I could do it cheaper than the local guys. Hehehe..."

"Interesting. Who was the friend, and how can I contact him?"

Duo laughed.

"You can talk to him personally if you want to. It was Trowa."

Wufei's eyes looked as if they were about to pop out of their sockets.

"WHAT! Duo, are you serious?"

********************************************************************************** 

As Relena and Amy stepped into the waiting car, Relena leaned over and asked the chauffeur,

"The conference doesn't start for another half hour. Do you think that we can take the scenic route?"

The chauffeur nodded.

"Sure thing ma'am. I get paid by my driving time anyways."

********************************************************************************** 

A couple of thugs in their early twenties were busy trying to sell their "product" to the small crowd of kids half their age. Most of them were just curious to see what all the hype was about, plus they got to see a bunch of big tough adults telling the teachers off. The second one probably drew more interest to the pair than any real interest in the drugs themselves, but dealers didn't care what drew the kids as long as a lot of them bought something. A two more thugs waited in their cars, ready to take off if the cops came, and a fifth kept an eye on the school building. This thug noticed a black SUV pull into the parking lot, but relaxed when only four kids stepped out, not men in suits or uniforms or the like. The lead boy, some older-looking brat with spiky black hair, called out.

"I think you guys are lost. You're definitely in the wrong place, and it would probably be better to find somewhere else to be before that somewhere else becomes the hospital."

The biggest of the thugs turned to him and sneered.

"Ya think ya got a chance 'gainst us? Who d'ya think ya're?"

"You haven't heard of us? We're the Seraph's Enforcers. Get them boys, they had their chance."

Two of the boys sprinted for the cars and started to fight the drivers, while the third kid, a young girl, leapt at the thug watching the school. The leader of the Enforcers, the spiky haired boy, moved surrealistically fast and was upon the sneering thug before the brute even realized what was happening. The boy punched hard and fast, first to the face, where a crunch reported on the man's broken cheekbone, then twice to the chest, where cracks announced breaking ribs, then a blow to the chin that nearly dislocated the thug's jaw, and so if went. The rapid blows to his chest and head reduced the man to a bleeding mass in record time. The man's companion tried to intervene, but before he knew what hit him the breath was knocked out of him and he was forced to the ground with his arms behind him. A zipping sound behind him told him that his arms had been tied with a cable tie. The kids were cheering, THIS was entertainment. The other, equally beaten and trussed thugs were brought up next to him. The leader addressed the kids.

"Alright boys and girls, anyone who gives us the drugs that these guys sold to you will get their money back AND a free kick at these guys' balls. Any takers?

One of the thugs whimpered, whoever this guy was, he was definitely one of the world's biggest sadists. And it turned out that a lot of kids wanted the promised refund, much to the horror of the would-be dealers. When they were done, the ties were cut and the thugs were allowed to fall, shuddering, to the ground. As the spiky haired boy and his kids turned to leave, the thug that had received the horrible thrashing and had consequently missed out on the "refund" stood up with a semi-automatic pistol in his hand.

"You dirty little runts are going to pay for that!" he screamed.

********************************************************************************** 

As the chauffeur led them through the streets of the downtown area of the city, he pointed out some of the important buildings along the way to the two giggling girls in the back.

"That's the city library on your left there, and the Heero Yuy Elementary school is on your right."

Relena leaned forward.

"Can you stop the car for a minute please? I want to have a look at this.

"Sure thing Miss.

The car pulled over to the side of the curb, and Relena stepped out and admired the classical stone style of the building. _Heero Yuy_, Relena thought, _that name still means so much to me_. A flash of light upon metal in the playground drew her attention. Several teens were cutting the bonds on some beaten and rough-looking adults.

"Looks like some guys got on the wrong side of the Seraph's kids." said the chauffeur, coming up behind her. "They were probably trying to sell drugs to the little kids."

"Wrong side?" asked Amy in a horrified tone, "What kind of people are they?"

The chauffeur grinned sardonically.

"Lady, they're the worst kind of community action group. Most of the criminals around here don't hold any kind of fear for the law, but they've got plenty for the Seraph's Enforcers. They're vigilantes, plain and simple, and they really good at it."

Just then one of the beaten men staggered to his feet, a gun in his hand, and screamed something at the retreating forms of the Enforcers. All four of them stopped, and then the tallest of them, a boy with spiky black hair, whipped around suddenly. BANG! BANG! BANG! Relena heard the gunshots before she even saw the gun in his hand. The man jerked for a second as the bullets hit him, and then crumpled to the ground. Calmly, the boy replaced his gun in its holster on the back of his waist and proceeded to his SUV with the rest of his group.

"Uh, Ladies?" said the chauffeur, "I think that we had better get going. The cops are going to be all over this place soon."

Relena nodded and stepped back into the car. Amy seemed to be moving a body encased in lead, and looked very shocked. _It's probably the first time that she's ever seen anyone killed_ thought Relena. Reaching out, she took her secretary's hand and tried to comfort her.

"It's okay Amy, it's okay. It had nothing to do with you."

Privately, Relena was also thrown into a turmoil. She had thought that the boy looked familiar, but the speed with which he had dispatched the thug had ended all doubt.

"Heero," she whispered to herself, "just what are you doing?"

********************************************************************************** 

The assassination scare yesterday meant that security was through the roof today. The door guards of the conference were busy checking everyone entering over. It was a daunting task, especially when one considered just how many people carried cell phones or pagers or palm computers or even metal briefcases. Almost every time someone was searched the detector would beep out several warnings. Thus, one of the guards was relieved when the man he was checking over remembered to pull out all such objects before he was scanned.

"This happens to me quite a bit." explained the smiling man, whose name tag proclaimed him to be Chang Wei, an economic consultant from the L5 Cluster. Smiling back, the guard waved him through and mentally prepared himself to deal with the next man, a blustery-looking man with all the apparent common sense of steel bar.

Wufei couldn't hold down his own smile. The ceramic composite knife in its arm sheath had passed the test. He had known that sneaking a gun in would have been impossible, but he did have a couple tricks up his sleeve, so to speak, that were designed for this possibility.

A sudden commotion behind him made him turn. The Vice Foreign Minister had finally arrived, just before the conference started. Security waved her and her secretary through without even bothering to check them, something which made Wufei's good humour dissipate rapidly. _If she had just let me come with her I could have brought a serious amount of protection in_, he fumed, _not just a clay knife!_ While it may have been more than a mere clay knife, the ceramic composite dagger was nothing compared to his regular combat daggers and pistols. Moving on before Relena could recognize him, he mentally consigned all stubborn-minded women to oblivion.

********************************************************************************** 

The sheer boredom of the morning's meetings was just the tonic that Relena and Amy needed to sort through the confusion of this morning. When lunchtime came, they skipped quickly to the restaurant in anticipation of a good lighthearted talk to relieve their tensions. However, as they were looking for a place to sit while their lunch was prepared, Amy spotted someone she hadn't expected to see.

"Uh-oh... Hey Relena, isn't that Captain Chang? I thought you said that he wasn't to come along." Amy gestured towards a smartly-dressed young Chinese man eating his lunch by himself.

Relena's eyes narrowed and she stalked over to his table and took a seat. He glanced up in irritation, then rolled his eyes in disgust as he saw who had found him.

"Just my luck," he said to no-one in particular, "I manage to sneak in for just half a day before dumb luck exposes me."

Relena glanced at his I.D. tag.

"Chang Wei? You couldn't come up with a slightly more original name?"

"It wasn't even my idea." he grumbled quietly. Wufei did not seem to be a happy camper. "If you had just let me come along and protect you in the first place I wouldn't have had to go to all this trouble."

"Honestly, I think that I'm the one whose had the worst day here." Relena countered. "First there was this suit arriving mysteriously, then there was Heero shooting someone, and now it turns out that you've disobeyed me and have come to 'protect' me anyway."

"This might surprise you, but I don't answer to you. I answer to a pair of slightly older, but equally stubborn and infuriating women."

The argument was temporarily broken off by the arrival of their lunches, and the waiter hurried off quickly after receiving multiple angry glares.

"Oh, I hate it when they forget to cut my sandwich!" whined Amy.

Scowling with annoyance, Wufei quickly drew his knife and slashed the offending sandwich neatly down the middle.

"Happy now?" he asked as he wiped the dull black blade on a napkin. Addressing Amy's shock and Relena outrage, he said "Look, I do have my ways, okay? And how am I supposed to protect you with no weapons whatsoever?" He paused, frowning. "Relena, did you just say that you saw Heero shooting someone?" She nodded. "Where?" 

"At a school downtown." Amy piped in through bites in her sandwich. Her hunger had overcome her shock and she had tucked in. "The chauffeur said that he and his pals being the Seraph's Enforcers, or something like that."

"Uh-huh. And what's this about a suit, Relena?"

"Well, last night I fell asleep in my clothes, and first thing this morning someone knocks on the door and hands me this suit." she gestured at her clothes. "I wasn't even in my room, I had switched with Amy for the night."

"Well, I think that it's pretty obvious who's been playing games with us." said Wufei.

"What are you talking about?" Amy protested. "I don't get all this!"

"Well," Wufei explained, "last night this I.D. magically appeared in my room. And someone delivered a brand new suit mysteriously to Relena this morning, which now that I think about is probably rigged with some sort of tracking device, and-"

"And you don't just hand guns to kids and expect them to take on adults, you need someone to train them first, someone really good at that sort of stuff." Relena interjected.

"Precisely." Wufei's eyes gleamed. He had that special self-satisfied feeling that one got when all the pieces just fell into place.

"I still don't get it." Amy complained, "Just what are you two getting at?"

Wufei gave her a measured look. He then turned to Relena.

"She hasn't ever had to deal with anything more violent than a paper cut, has she?" he asked.

"No, she nearly went into shock when she saw someone get shot half a block away this morning."

"Ahhh." Wufei turned back to Amy. "Look, I'll try to be easy with this. During the wars a couple of years ago, I was... part of a special operations unit. We were all really good at what we did, but one of us was so good that he was in a completely different league than us. After the wars, the rest of us adapted to public life, but he disappeared. We haven't heard from him in ages. It now seems that he's become the head of this Seraph's character's hit men."

********************************************************************************** 

"Busted..." the girl sneered at her boss.

Heero shot her an annoyed glance.

"Hardly. With the amount of interfering that we've done they were bound to figure it out eventually. Besides, Wufei's a cop, it's his job to put clues together."

The boy behind the driver's wheel laughed.

"He even figured out that we rigged the suit."

"Even so, they might check all the buttons, but they won't find the locator. And thanks to Jacqui, it'll never even occur to them where we put the microphone.

The car radio, which was actually very specialized, continued its report.

"...become the head of this Seraph's character's hit men."

"Just Men?" Jacqui demanded, "That sexist pig! If I get my hands on him I'll... What's so funny boss?"

"The fact that you just joined the legions of women everywhere who've said those exact words about poor Wufei." Heero was amused, although only those who knew him very well would have been able to tell.

"Men!" Jacqui settled down to pout.

********************************************************************************** 

Since Relena had grudgingly allowed Wufei to be an official part of her entourage, meaning that he got a hotel room next to her among other privileges, he was quite happy about heading back to the circus. He was looking forward to being able to tell Trowa that he wasn't going to perform tonight, aside from some other questions that he had for his friend. He found him tending to the lions in preparation for the show.

"Relena found out about me today, and decided that I could accompany her, so I'll be moving out. I'm also not to sorry to say that I don't have any reason to join you tonight." Trowa nodded. It figured that he would take it calmly. "By the way, I spoke to Duo this morning. It seems that you gave him a bunch of contracts for companies in this cluster." Trowa remained impassive. "It turns out that all of those companies are all connected with this Seraph guy. I'm curious as to why you would help someone set up their organized crime base."

A faint smile creased Trowa's lips.

"He's only technically an organized crime boss, and besides, a friend asked me to do it."

"A friend like Heero?" Wufei felt that he was on the home stretch now. "He hasn't contacted the rest of us, not even Relena, but he might have talked to you. After all, you the quiet guy, the one who wouldn't even accidentally reveal where he was or what he was doing, right?"

"Or take offence to it, like a cop would." said a voice from behind Wufei. He spun around to see Heero himself leaning against one of the other cages. "You've found a job that suited you, and your sense of justice. I found one that suited mine."

"Firstly, I'm not a cop." Wufei said indignantly, shocked that Heero had predicted where he would go. "I'm a Preventer." Heero snorted. "There IS a difference... somehow... ARRRGH! Forget it! Secondly, being a hit man doesn't suit you any more than it would suit me. And we're all nearly as good as you."

A faint tugging at the corners of Heero's mouth might possibly be the beginning of a smile, but it was too small to tell whether or not it was just a trick of the light.

"Wufei, being a Preventer may have developed your mind wonderfully," Heero said. "but it's made your body weak."

"What? How dare you..."

Heero pulled a big handgun that Wufei had never seen before out from behind his back and pointed steadily it at Wufei. He then flipped it around rapidly and tossed it to Wufei, who caught it with difficulty since it was MUCH heavier than he had expected. Examining it, he found it to be a Magnum semi-automatic pistol with a lot of customizations, from an extended magazine to what appeared to be an gas kickback control system designed to allow the gun to fire faster. Knowing it's owner, the original firing pin had probably been replaced with one made out of gundanium. The entire effect was impressive, if too heavy for any human to comfortably handle.

"Now point it at me." Heero said.

Wufei did so, but found that unless he used both hands the thing was impossible to keep steady. _Damn him!_ Wufei screamed inside his head. _He knows that he's much stronger than me, and he's laughing at me because of it!_ Wufei snorted and handed back the gun, which Heero easily reholstered at the back of his waist. As he did so his suit jacket opened slightly and revealed the handle of another gun for the briefest of moments. _He's armed to the teeth._ Wufei realized. _He's ready to deal with masses of enemies at a moment's notice. How typical of Heero, maybe being a street enforcer really does suit him._

"At least now Relena has someone officially protecting her." Heero said as he turned to leave. "Take care of her, I'll be watching."

"Hold on. I'm not done talking to you, and I want to talk to your boss! You two have managed to create a bloody mess here, and someone is going to answer to the proper authority for it! Not to mention I still have to deal out justice to you for stealing my I.D.!"

"A little blood washes away a lot of sin, Wufei, and that's what I've been doing. The Seraph's vision is to help the exploited children, to prevent a new generation from repeating the mistakes of the past ones simply through bitterness. My mission is to protect that vision, so if you have anything to say to the Seraph then I suggest you tell me, and I'll tell him."

"Tell him that I respect what he's doing for the children of this colony, but that I disapprove of his methods, and of yours. But you never were one to play by the rules, were you?" Wufei shook his head. "Whatever it takes to accomplish the mission."

Heero merely looked at Wufei for a minute, then nodded. And with that, he turned and was gone. Wufei looked over at Trowa.

"Do you seriously mean to tell me that you helped out that American brat just because Heero asked you to?" he asked incredulously. Trowa smiled and nodded, at which Wufei threw his hands up in the air in disgust. "And I thought that you were the sensible one. Sheesh. What can you expect from a clown."

********************************************************************************** 

In the country mansion, there was a large dining room. The long table in the middle of it was currently surrounded tough men busy trying to check their assorted weaponry over while listening to the instructions being given by the man standing at the head of the table.

"... then you'll make your way down the service elevators and out the back entrance, where the cars will be waiting. And that concludes the Operation plan. Any questions?" A hand shot up from a particularly mean-looking man holding onto an equally mean-looking handgun. "Yes, Sigurd?"

"I know that you're expecting a bit of resistance from the Seraph's forces on the ground, but what about the around girl herself?" Sigurd asked, voicing the concerns of many of the room assault team.

"Nothing." The head man answered. "She even dismissed the Preventer escort that was offered to her."

"Then why all the firepower?" Sigurd wondered.

"We want to make certain that she will no longer trouble us. Besides, to kill the queen pacifist in such a manner will send a very strong message. Any further questions?"

There were none, so the men dispersed and started their individual preparations for their mission.

********************************************************************************** 

All of Relena's group, including Wufei, were in her suite, discussing the day's revelations. Wufei was about to launch into an explanation of Heero's role in the L1 underground when a knock came at the door.

"Hello in there? It's maintenance, we think that there might be a problem with the wiring."

One of Relena's assistants got up from his comfy chair and answered the door.

"What did you say the ... oh shi-"

He never finished. The loud report of a gun firing inside announced the true intentions of their visitor. Wufei's instincts took over. He jumped at Relena, knocking the couch that she and Amy were sitting on over and dragging them both to the floor as armed men burst, guns blazing, into the room. Relena's other assistant was hit about half a dozen times and crumpled onto the floor that his blood was rapidly staining. Wufei knew that this was the end. He had his pistol, but he had two _women_ to protect, and no cover from the heavy pistols that he recognized by sound.

He closed his eyes and calmly prepared himself for death, and was rewarded by an earsplitting BANG. His eyes snapped open. A stun grenade! His mental exercise had prevented him from being affected, but that didn't extend to the opposition. Emerging from cover, he blasted away at the intruders. Two of them were hit in the chest and dropped, quickly dying, to the floor. A third was hit in the knee and he fell back clutching at his ruined joint. Unfortunately, that's when the other assailants recovered from their shock and started shooting back.

********************************************************************************** 

Sigurd may have worried about the safety of the room team, but his concerns would have been much better applied to the ground assault team, which was intended to sweep the hotel grounds of any possible guards set by the Seraph. The dozen or so members were paired in groups of two. Unbeknownst to them, so were their supposed targets. Also unknown to them was the fact that their presence was known by the Seraph's people from the minute they set foot on the grounds.

"All teams, go!" Heero whispered into his headset.

One could almost feel pity for the men who had been chosen for the ground team. Figures leapt out of the bushes at them and fired handguns with lethal accuracy. Heero followed his own orders, appearing suddenly in front of a pair of startled hit men and shooting before they could react. One was hit through the eye and was killed instantly, the other was hit in the throat and went down wheezing and grasping at the mortal wound. A sound brought Heero around suddenly, and blasted away one of the men who had been trying to sneak up behind him. The other managed to get a shot off before Jacqui, Heero's partner got him. She turned to Heero.

"You know, no matter how many times I see you do that, it still amazes me. Did hit hit you?"

"Of course not. What's the situation in the room?"

Jacqui was the one with the audio monitoring equipment. She listened for a second, then her face went pale.

"Oh shit, boss!" Jacqui whispered urgently. "They're in the room!"

"Detonate the stun grenade." he ordered her. Then he whispered into his headset. "Teams two and three, proceed to the parking lots and investigate for possible getaway vehicles. Kill all hostiles on sight, try to avoid civilian casualties if possible. Team four, proceed to the main entrance and make sure that no one passes through, in or out." Turning back to Jacqui, he said. "Come on, let's get a move on."

********************************************************************************** 

Sigurd was worried. Two of his best men lay dead, and a third was crippled, all by a gunman who wasn't supposed to exist. The guy was not a problem presently, as he had dived into the bedroom to avoid the fire concentrated on him, but something else worried him. He couldn't raise the ground team, and that suggested that they had underestimated the enemy completely. It also suggested that there would be a team of the Seraph's killers up here any second, cutting off his retreat. There was only one way that he could think of to get out here with his skin intact. Signaling to one of his two uninjured men to help the crippled man out, he reached behind the couch and grabbed the Vice Foreign Minister's arm. His remaining man got the idea and grabbed the secretary. If worst came to worst, they had shields.

The poor guy whose knee Wufei had blown out was being helped by his friend towards the service elevator's doors and the escape that they promised when those doors opened, revealing two more figures, a boy and a girl. The boy's face was cold and expressionless, the girl was obviously nervous and tense. The men realized exactly what these two were just before the boy raised his gun and shot them both.

Sigurd emerged from the room with the girl in front of him and saw the boy moving deliberately towards him, gun raised. He called out,

"Let me by, or she dies!"

This had no effect on the boy, who continued to advance. Sigurd noticed that he wasn't shooting though, so he had to have some concern for the girl. Smiling wickedly, he started to shoot at the boy. He was shocked to see the boy move, lightning quick, dodge out of his field of fire. He was even more shocked to find bullets zip by his ear and crash into the wall behind him. The hostage idea wasn't working as well as he had hoped.

"Are you crazy? You'll hit her before you hit me! Stop!"

The boy stepped back into the open. Sigurd thought that he heard the girl gasp in recognition of the boy. He had a cold and calculating look on his face.

"You're right. You're better at hiding behind hostages than I thought you would be." The boy said, and he instead pointed his gun at Amy and Sigurd's last pal, who were just coming out of the room's door. "But this one I don't care about."

_He doesn't care about?_ Sigurd was amazed. _He's just going to shoot them both if I don't do something, and then I won't have anyone to watch my back!_ But before he could do anything, the girl surprised everyone by speaking up.

"Heero, No!"

Amazingly enough, the boy didn't shoot. Looking at the trigger, Sigurd figured that one more ounce of pressure by the boy's finger would be sufficient to blow a hole through both the secretary and his friend. Instead, he released the pressure on the trigger and then spoke into his headset.

"Teams two and three, are your objectives completed? Then withdraw to MHQ. Team four, you are also to proceed to MHQ. We will be joining you shortly." He then gave Sigurd a look that froze the hardened killer's blood. "Your life is measurable in hours, enjoy them while they last."

And with that he turned on his heel and stalked off towards the fire exit with a second kid, a young teenage girl, in his wake. The girl also worried Sigurd, because if she was who she appeared to be then there was absolutely no safety left in this world for him. He and his accomplice dragged their hostages to the service elevators, thanking their lucky stars that their strategy had paid off. They were not so jubilant when they arrived at the cars, and even the girls were shocked, if for slightly different reasons. The secretary collapsed sobbing, and the Vice Foreign Minister knelt down and started to comfort her.

"There, there, Amy. It's okay, it's okay."

"Keep an eye on them." Sigurd growled to his assistant. He then moved towards the car, using each step to mentally prepare himself for the task of ditching his comrades bodies from the car seats where they died messily.

********************************************************************************** 

Wufei heard the exchange in the hallway from his cover in the bedroom. _What's Heero planning?_ he asked himself as he heard the young assassin pronounce sentence over the killers. When he heard the elevator doors close behind the hired guns, he jumped out and ran for the fire escape. _Heero's your best chance to save Relena!_ his mind screamed at him, and he agreed. He reached the bottom and slammed open the emergency door, sprinting out into the night. He saw two figures running for a sports car parked near the road, so he ran after them on the assumption that it was Heero and one of his little friends.

As he neared them, they heard his approach, and they both suddenly whipped out guns and aimed at him. He held up his arms, and Heero relaxed.

"I'm sorry Heero, I-" Wufei started, hoping that Heero wasn't going to blame him for Relena kidnapping.

"You did the best you could under the circumstances. You saved her life actually. Instead of just shooting her, they were forced to use her as a hostage. Now we will retrieve her." So saying, Heero got into his car, followed by his comrade. "Get in Wufei." Wufei complied, and jumped into the back seat. "Wufei, this is Jacqui. Jacqui, this is Wufei." he introduced them even as he sped away.

They quickly reached a large mobile construction rig on the outskirts of town, thanks largely to Heero's maniacal driving. It was just like Heero, Wufei reflected, to have a beautiful vehicle and not care what sort of damage it took as long as it completed its mission intact. He sped up one of the ramps leading inside and parked expertly next to a pair of black SUV's. They all jumped out and heaped for what looked like a large scale meeting near the centre of the large room that they were in. Wufei instantly recognized Van Lewen and many of the people from his construction company, and was not completely surprised to see Trowa there.

"Alright boss," Van Lewen said as Heero approached. "we heard about the Vice Foreign Minister. What's the plan?"

"All out assault." Heero responded flatly. "We drive up with the heavy guns, which you guys will use to pound the structure while the assault teams infiltrate and finish off the resistance. Wufei, Trowa, and myself shall be the first team, teams two and three shall be formed as normal. Any questions?" There were none. "Excellent. Now let's lock and load!"

Wufei and Trowa were led the the small arms vault, and were both amazed at what it contained. The vault was a small hall, and the walls were stacked floor to ceiling with pistols, shotguns, assault rifles, and ammunition. Wufei let out a whistle as he helped himself to a couple of powerful handiness, disdaining the more cumbersome rifles. He saw that Trowa was arming himself likewise. When they reconvened in the hangar, everyone was decked out with guns, and some of the kids looked ridiculous holding combat shotguns or assault rifles until you saw the ease with which they handled them. Heero was dressed in a commando suit, sporting more nifty gadgets Wufei cared to count. In his hands he held a mean-looking assault rifle that could just as easily have been a sniper rifle.

"Let's go." he said, and jumped into his sports car.

Wufei and Trowa jumped in too, and Hero pulled out of the hangar and sped along the country road. Wufei noticed several LAVs (Light Assault Vehicles) and APCs (Armoured Personnel Carriers) following behind, and he heard at least one chopper above them.

"When did you get all of this hardware?" Wufei asked Heero.

"After the wars. It was just lying around, and it was safer in my hands than in some petty rebel's."

"I see. And where does Van Lewen fit in?"

"Van Lewen was one of Doctor J's men. After the wars, I owed them a debt, and I needed companies that would employ children so that they could get off the street, so I helped them set up their businesses. It turns out that the Mafias decided that all these upstart companies were interfering with their own little empires, so I was forced to fight them on their own level." explained Heero.

They pulled up outside the gates of a country mansion, guarded by a couple of toughs who were too surprised by the amount of military hardware arriving to bother to call in. Heero shot them before they could reconsider. He then handed Wufei and Trowa each a combat headset.

"All teams sound off." Heero ordered into his headset.

"APC one, ready."

"APC two, ready."

"LAV one, ready."

"LAV two, ready."

"LAV three, ready."

"Chopper, ready."

"Command, ready." Heero said, finishing the roll call.

Heero then gunned his engine and sped straight for the gates, followed closely by the other vehicles. Wufei wondered momentarily if Heero was too insane or just too impatient to let one of the heavier and tougher military vehicles handle the gates. His doubts were dispelled when the car smashed through the gates without even taking a scratch.

"You plated your car with gundanium alloy?" he asked incredulously.

"Nothing but the best for the city's newest crime lord." Heero answered sardonically.

They sped down the long driveway and stopped just short of the marble stairs leading into the house. They ran up the stairs as the LAVs took up their positions and began to rip away at the windows with heavy machine guns. The doors were locked, but there was a keypad beside them which Heero ran up to and quickly punched a code into. The doors opened, and the three former Gundam pilots charged in.

A pair of guards coming up on the left were killed as Heero's assault rifle stitched their bodies with 7.62mm bullets. Wufei shot some poor fool who peeped around the corner in the eye, granting him instant death. Trowa was wielding a gun in each hand, and he shot one person through the mouth and the next person just above the collarbone. _All who see us must die._ Wufei thought as he remembered the old credo of the Gundam pilots and how fitting it was now. Beside him, Heero fired his assault rifle again, the bullet hit the man just under his chin wrecking the windpipe as it entered his neck and blasting apart the man's spine as it exited. _And die they do._ Wufei added to their old motto.

********************************************************************************** 

There was quite the crowd assembled in the country mansion's meeting room. Several very important people had gathered, and were waiting in the impatient way of people who are debating whether it was worth their time to wait. The man at the head of the table was relaxed, he knew what was going on. The door opened to admit Sigurd, who quickly sidled over and whispered in the man's ear. The man's face briefly displayed shock, then just as quickly composed itself. He nodded.

"Umm... Right. Bring her in." he stood and addressed the others. "Gentlemen, I know that our families have not always got along very well, but there are always a few sources of common interest. One of those sources is the reason I have called you here tonight."

Sigurd had exited the room while his boss spoke, and now re-entered with a young lady. Some of the men recognized her instantly.

"Why did you kidnap the Vice Foreign Minister? Why not just shoot her?"

"Well, we thought it would be better if all of you had a say in her fate, Mr. Modino."

Sigurd managed to cover his smile by hiding his head behind the girl's hair. The boss was a master at the instant excuse, and it looked as if the other families were buying it. Until, that is, the girl recognized the boss.

"Mr. Antoniolli," Relena started. "I should have guessed that you would be involved in organized crime. I guess I just believed the best of you, to my present disgust. You can't even tell them that you tried to kill me and that I'm only here as a h - mmmph!" Sigurd belatedly slapped his hand over her mouth, but the damage was done. Mr. Modino peered forward intently.

"As a what? A hostage? Don't tell me that you couldn't handle whatever minimal bodyguard she had."

"No!" Sigurd exclaimed, then glanced at Mr. Antoniolli. A nod told him to proceed. "It turns out that the Seraph was protecting her, so it was the only way to get out alive. As it turns out, only myself and another man survived, everyone else was wiped out. I think..." He trailed off as he peered out of the window. It was dark, but he was fairly certain he could distinguish what the shapes speeding up the driveway were. He instinctually leapt for cover under the table and was vindicated a moment later when the windows exploded.

The machine gun fire that raked through the room did far more psychological damage than it did physical. Only a couple of people were actually hit by a bullet, but flying glass had embedded itself everywhere in the room. Under the table suddenly became a popular place, as the guns swept the room once again. A couple of brave people tried shooting back, but Sigurd knew that it was pointless. Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to bring that much military hardware here, and it wasn't going to fall victim to a couple of lucky pistol shots.

One man sprinted for the door, which opened just before he reached it. A loud bang sounded, and the man flew backwards. A teenager stood in the doorway toting a combat shotgun. He entered, followed by a couple of boys and the girl that Sigurd had seen at the hotel. The girl spoke into her headset, and the strafing fire stopped. She then spoke up.

"Alright, listen up! The first person to move takes a dirt nap. The last person to drop their guns takes a dirt nap. The first person who doesn't do what they're told will also take a dirt nap. I don't want any questions."

Mr. Antoniolli looked at her with rage playing across his face. When he spoke it was with a voice so filled with hate that it made even the girl flinch.

"Why you dirty little whore! You run away from your family and betray them to some shit-kissing scum! You are as worthless as the next bitch, Jacqui, and if you ever show your face where one of us can see it we will break it!"

Jacqui was about to say something when suddenly three older teens arrived and pushed the younger ones out of the way. Sigurd recognized two of them, one was the unexpected bodyguard in the Vice Foreign minister's room, the other was the cold killer who had promised him that his life expectancy was now extremely short. The cold one spoke up, brandishing an assault rifle. 

"Everyone stand up! Slowly!"

While everyone was rising to their feet, Sigurd noted how the other kids spread out so that they would have a maximum field of fire. _If this goes bad,_ he thought, _we're all dead men._ Jacqui spoke to him.

"Sig, please let her go. He's one straw away from shooting the lot of you."

Sigurd looked past the young man's ruffled and spiky bangs, and into his hard blue eyes. What he saw there actually made him more nervous than what Jacqui had said. He let go of his grip on the girl's arm, and let her dash over to her semi-crazed rescuer, who dropped his assault rifle so that he could put an arm around her to comfort her. Mr. Antoniolli, still furious, rasped:

"So you're a traitor too, Sigurd? Then why don't you just go and join them. You too are a corpse the next time we-"

Sigurd couldn't take it anymore, he was twice the nervous wreck that the old man was, and he lashed out.

"Shut up! You are nothing but a doddering old fool! This girl wasn't worth half the resources that we wasted on her! We should have quit when Willie was killed on the first day! You shouldn't have kept up the war with the Seraph! We never killed any of his people because he always got to us first! You're an idiot and this mess is all thanks to you!

As Sigurd and Mr. Antoniolli ranted, the other Mafiosos edged away from them, sensing that this had to go wrong. The old man cried out again.

"So! You are a traitor! I'm going to enjoy-"

Sigurd cut him off a second time by raising his gun and shooting him. The man looked down at the blood spreading over his chest, then charged madly at Sigurd. Time slowed for the exhausted hit man. A second shot rang out, a blurred thunder in his ears, and he could almost see the bullet as it traveled on a perfect trajectory, entering between the ribs, punching through the left lung, piercing the heart, and blowing out a spinal vertebra on the way out. Mr. Antoniolli jerked upright for a second, then collapsed. Sigurd looked over and saw the cold youth with one arm wrapped around the Vice Foreign Minister and the other hand wielding a nasty pistol. _Why didn't he shoot me when he saw that I had a gun?_ Sigurd wondered. His wondering was cut short as Heero swung the handgun towards him.

"Boss, please don't."

"Heero, can't you let him go?"

It was Jacqui and the Minister pleading for his life! Both girls were technically the enemy, and he wouldn't have been surprised if the Minister had asked to shoot him personally, since he had been the one who had kidnapped her. Instead the cold youth, who the Minister had called Heero, reholstered his gun and sat down at the head of the table, motioning for everyone else to take a seat.

"I know who each of you is," he started when everyone had sat down. "therefore it is only fair that you know who I am. I am the Seraph."

There was shock all around the room. _This KID was single handedly responsible for all the recent killings?_ was the question almost everyone asked themselves. Wufei was also shocked, but for a different reason. _I thought that you were merely the hired gun. I didn't think that you would be the sort who would go to all this trouble for the kids's sakes. It looks like everyone underestimated you this time Heero._ Heero raised his voice, cutting off Wufei's thoughts.

"You are all technically innocent of the attacks upon my group and the Vice Foreign Minister, but that doesn't exonerate you of all your crimes." Apprehension replaced shock as the dominant feeling around the table. The still loaded and levelled guns of the boy's friends added the the people's insecurity. "But you are still useful. If you agree to cooperate with me, you'll be rewarded. If you refuse to move with the times, then I'm sure that Mr. Antoniolli won't mind some extra company in hell."

There was no questioning the seriousness of that statement. Everyone in this room was a survivalist, and they instinctively knew that to challenge the Seraph now was to invite swift and certain death upon oneself. Sigurd stared at the corpse of his former employer, marvelling at the single shot that had killed him. _He was dead in three ways, and this Seraph guy drew his gun like lightning while comforting a girl at the same time!_The cold, spiky-haired boy continued.

"I have decided that Jacqui is the new head of the Antoniolli family. Sigurd shall be her advisor. You will all be contacted later and the details of our relationships can be worked out then." He rose abruptly, and walked towards the Sigurd. He stopped about a meter away from the man and looked him in the eye. "The girls have asked me to spare your life, so on their account you will survive, but remember this: Never cross me again."

Sigurd looked at the boy, who was really more of a young man than anything else. He looked into those eyes which were normally cold and closed and saw instead open windows into a soul that was filled with violence. Sigurd knew in that instant that the cold demeanor was all that usually held this young man from going beserk and destroying everything around him in a psychotic rampage. No one else in the room saw those eyes, they had been revealed for Sigurd alone, and Sigurd quickly found out why.

Before anyone could react, Heero lashed out, his arm moving so fast that it was simply a blur. The punch connected with Sigurd's left chest, and he went down. In fact, it spun him around while flipping him over, with the result being that once he hit the floor he rolled back a few times and ended up in an undignified heap. Heero stalked over to Sigurd's prone form, crouched down, and lifed his head by the hair. As Sigurd stared once again into the raging infernos contained in Heero's eyes, Heero spoke in a voice that could have chilled the dead.

"Consider that to be merely a fraction of what you deserve."

"Heero..." Relena said softly. "Can we leave now? I want to go home."

Sigurd saw something else emerge in those eyes, a concern for others that could match the violence. Quickly though, the cold emptiness returned to mask them both. Heero released Sigurd's hair, letting the head drop, and walked back over to her. Sigurd himself was too exhausted and too beaten to care. He welcomed the coming blackness and the temporary refuge that provided from this world.

Heero recovered his assault rifle, put his arm around Relena's shoulders, and walked out of the room without looking back. Amy was waiting for them in the hallway, having been rescued by the Heero's third team, who were currently guarding the few defenders who had had both the time and the intelligence to surrender. Amy's relief at seeing Relena alive was suddenly frozen over by panic when she noticed Heero. Heero spared her barely a glance before turning to his boys.

"Let them go," he said as he gestured towards the captured men. "they've got some cleaning up to do. Mike, Jacqui's in charge here, got it?" As he started to guide Relena towards the door, he glanced at Amy and said, "Come along, we've got to find somewhere for you to stay tonight."

They walked out into the driveway, which was full of military vehicules and men with rifles and submachine guns. Relena, who had been around lots of military power during her exploits during the wars, was not intimidated. Amy had spent the wars in school, and had only ever seen guns on cops, so she was filled to bursting point with fear. Only the fact that Relena appeared calm kept her from having a nervous breakdown on the spot. The men made way as Heero approached, and soon the trio arrived at Heero's sleek sports car. Van Lewen was sitting on the hood.

"Hello Heero, all things well?

"Yes. Wufei and Trowa are still inside. When they're done, take them to Ivanson's hotel, he'll have a couple of rooms for them."

"Sure thing boss, see ya in the morning."

"Afternoon. I'll be busy most of the morning."

"Whatever."

Van Lewen got off the hood and wandered off to take care of his men. Heero ushed the girls into the car, then got in himself and drove off at an insane speed, causing another panic attack in Amy. Even Relena was a little disturbed.

"Uh, Heero, could you go a little slower? You're going to get us killed."

"Someone else maybe, but not us." He drew a gun in his left hand, aimed it around the windshield, and started shooting at the hood. The bullets bounced off harmlessly, not even denting it. "See?"

"Gundanium." Relena was laughing, but Amy was already too far out of her depth and her mind chose this moment to call it quits. As she slumped against the seat, Heero smiled faintly.

"Where did you find her?"

"Be nice, she just never had to deal with violence before this week. You know, before I met you I was just the same."

"Except that you were richer, smarter, and tougher. By the way, did you like your suit?"

"Yes, I should have figured that you were behind the mysterious delivery without Wufei's help. By he way, I know that you arranged to have Trowa let him come along with the circus."

"Does he know?"

"Of course not." she giggled.

********************************************************************************** 

_Wednesday_

********************************************************************************** 

Amy regained consciousness comfortably. Her bed was really comfortable, the sheets and pillows were thick and fluffy, unlike the car seat where she had blacked out. Amy's eyes snapped open as she realized she wasn't where she should be. She bolted upright and stared around the hotel room. It wasn't shabby, but it certainly wasn't the diplomatic hotel where they had been staying before... last night. She was still trying to figure out what she was doing here when the door opened and HE walked in, closing it behind him. Amy bunche the blankets up in front of her as a sort of barrier against him.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded as he pulled a chair up next to the bed and sat down on it.

"I came to wake you up, but I see that you managed to do it without my help."

"Where am I? How did I get here?"

"Calm down." he said placatingly. "This a hotel owned by a friend of mine. After you passed out, I just carried you here and dumped you in the bed. You don't weigh very much, so it wasn't much of a problem."

Amy relaxed somewhat, he didn't actually seem that bad of a guy, now that she actually got a chance to talk to him.

"Who are you, and why does Relena know you? Are you some kind of gangster or something?" she asked.

"Actually, I'm an assasin, and Relena knows me because I tried to kill her a couple of times." Amy stiffened in shock. "But I never could pull it off, so I decided to start protecting her instead. Happy?" Amy nodded as she relaxed. "Good, let's go."

********************************************************************************** 

Relena was waiting for them in the lobby, as was a very smartly dressed Wufei. They all got into Heero's car, with the girls in the back. 

"Did he tell you what we're doing?" she asked her secretary.

"No, what?"

"I don't know, but Wufei is smirking, and they both rarely wear suits. They must have something plotted between them."

Heero pulled up in front of an expensive women's clothing store and got out.

"Coming, ladies?" he asked with _almost_ a smile on his face.

Inside, they were greeted by the store owner, a middle aged woman with a kindly face.

"Oh Heero, you again? Did the lady like the suit?" she stopped as she caught sight of the ruined suit Relena was wearing. "You vandal Heero! How could you let this happen to a one-day old suit?

Heero leaned forward and whispered something in her ear. A huge smile spread across her face and she nodded happily. Heero turned to the girls.

"I'll be back in a couple of hours. Enjoy yourselves."

And with that he walked out of the door. The girls turned questioning glances upon the happy owner, who only grinned even more.

"You girls are going to love this." she said. "He's paying for anything that you want!"

********************************************************************************** 

"Are you sure that'll keep them occupied?"

"Of course. I don't know how many hours or paychecks I've sacrified to Sally's desire to shop. If this doesn't work, then nothing will."

"Good. Do you have your speech?"

"Right here."

********************************************************************************** 

"That damned Wufei! He was supposed to stop this from happening!"

The television in Lady Une's office was reporting on the bloody kidnapping and possible murder of Vice Foreign Minister Dorilan. Sally and Lady Une were watching in total shock as the reporter on the screen speculated about the event.

"It appears that late last night, gunshots were heard on the hotel's grounds and in the Minister's room. Police sources say that although the bodies of two of the Minister's aides were found at the scene, neither the body of the Minister nor that of her secretary have been found, leading to speculation about a possible kidnapping. And now over to a live statement by the police."

The screen showed several high-ranking police officers sitting behind a table, getting ready to say their bits. A spiky-haired young man walked onstage and whispered something in the chief cop's ear, then led him offstage. As soon as they were gone, another young man walked up and took the recently vacated seat. Lady Une and Sally stared in shock at the newcomer. It was...

_"WUFEI???"_ they both screamed in shock.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen." Wufei started. "I am Captain Chang Wufei of the Preventers. I am here to address your concerns about the events of last night. We at the Preventers recieved an anonymous tip that an attempt would be made on the life of the Vice Foreign Minister in her hotel room. We evacuated her just before the attack, but were unable to get to some of her aides in time. Our agents slew or apprehended the killers during their attack, but we are still investigating the possibility that some of them escaped and are still plotting against the Minister. Until we are sure of her safety, she will remain under guard with all public appearances cancelled. That is all, thank you."

With that Wufei got up and left the stage. All the other police officers were looking extremely confused, and anarchy was breaking out as the press screamed out questions. Ladyy Une turned the TV off, then looked at Sally with a frown on her face.

"Are any Preventers on L1 besides Wufei?"

"None that I know of."

"Then what was he talking about?"

"Who knows, let's just be happy that Relena is safe."

"Hmmm, I guess so.

********************************************************************************** 

True to their word, the guys picked up the girls a couple of hours later. The store owner handed Heero the bill, and Heero proceeded to stare at it in shock for a long time. Wufei chuckeld to himself. _That'll teach him to let TWO girls loose in a store._ When Heero finally got over his shock and paid up, the whole gang climbed back into his car.

"So what were you guys doing?" Relena asked as they drove off.

"Arranging a vacation for you." Heero replied. "We have a couple of days all to ourselves."

********************************************************************************** 

**Fin**

********************************************************************************** 

Final Note: If you made it this far, then congratulations! The violence/sap level varied a lot, depending on what mood I was in at the time. I started writing this with the idea that the GW boys would each try to help children who were orphaned during the wars, but it quickly degenerated into a HYxRP fic. If anyone can come up with a better title then I'm all ears. Oh, and in case you don't know, a Seraph is an Angel from the choir of Seraphim, the highest order of Angels.

********************************************************************************** Comments and suggestions are always welcome.  
[ragnar_murray@hotmail.com][1]

   [1]: mailto:ragnar_murray@hotmail.com



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